Overstrand Life - Janet's Diaries

April 1st -15th 2016

Earlier this week we saw an unusual site; a swan on the sea. We told two of our village bird watchers who walked down to have a look and identified it as a mute swan. Since then it has been spotted near Cromer Pier. You just never know what extraordinary wildlife you will see here in North Norfolk.

One thing we did not want to see yesterday and that was an amount of rubbish that has been dumped each side of the railway bridge on Madams Lane. A mix of bags and suitcases; I took photographs and sent these to our District Councillor, Angie Fitch-Tillett who informed us, as the rubbish is on private land, there is nothing the council can do about it. Today we went to Ivy Farm Caravan Park, which is owned by the Reynolds family. They also own land further inland and we wondered if they owned the old railway line too. We did not get a positive answer but were told they would look into it with a view to clearing the rubbish.

Celandine

Dumped Rubbish

Walking down The Londs on Tuesday, Peter picked up a male sparrow which was lying on the tarmac. One of its eyes was filled with blood but there was no apparent other damage. It is possible it had been in a fight or a gust of wind blew it into something rigid or pointed. Peter carried it home where he put it in the greenhouse to recover on a diet of wild bird food and crushed digestive biscuits. The sparrow was generally quiet but on Thursday when we opened the greenhouse it was more lively and flew out through the door. It may have lost the sight in one eye but hopefully it will survive.

Peter got our barbeque out of winter storage on Thursday afternoon and has given it a good clean, as well as repairing the burner that had rusted over the winter. With a good weather forecast, we have plans for a couple of barbeques over the weekend. I have pricked out some summer bedding plants. This year I have grown begonias; the seedlings are so small, I have transplanted them in groups and if more than one takes, I will pull out the weakest. It’s over a month since I put in the broad beans but none of them have germinated and when I tipped out the trays, I found they have rotted. Whether I should not have soaked the beans before planting or whether I have overwatered them, I don’t know but today I have planted more in the hope that this new sowing will germinate.

Brackets

Path to Northrepps

Fungi

I have been looking into marketing my books and one suggestion is using social media. Clifftop Publishing already has a Facebook page and on Wednesday I registered with Twitter. This is very different and covers a different type of audience to Facebook; I will wait and see how it pans out. As part of COAST (Cromer and Sheringham Arts Festival) I will be giving an informal talk about my experiences of self-publishing. This won’t be until October, so more about this another time. Shortly, I will have coverage in Cromer Times; just a short piece about my books and raising money for Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation. I have now finished the third of the short stories that will be compiled within one book. These are very much in draft stage; with plenty more work to be put into them and of course there are other stories to write too.

I have included a selection of photographs taken on our recent walks, plus a couple showing some of the dumped rubbish.

Tuesday 5th April 2016 - Rubbish, 17°C and Getting Back to Normal

After reporting the rubbish dropped over the old railway bridge on Madams Lane to the Reynolds family, it is good to see that this has been cleared from the Sidestrand side. However, when we walked past this afternoon, the cases etc. on the Cromer side remain. I presume there are two separate land owners on this strip of the old railway line with a different land owner on the Cromer side. Hopefully the Reynolds family have alerted them.

It was 17°C on Friday and similar again on Sunday which provided the ideal opportunity for tidying borders in the garden and mowing the grass. It also meant that we were able to barbeque on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Admittedly it was chilly and certainly too cold to sit out but we felt we were one step further into spring and warmer weather. The path leading up to Northrepps from the allotments is still very muddy in one place but this did not stop us walking up the other afternoon; continuing along the airstrip and back down into Overstrand. The wood anemones are in flower and each year I photograph these delicate white flowers with little success. As their petals are virtually pure white they tend to merge in together but this year I did manage to get a clear shot. The flower is not the best example as its petals have been ‘nibbled’; but I suppose not everything can be perfect.

Wood Anemone

Peter took up the carpet and underlay in our lounge and hall on Monday, ready for the fitters to lay our new carpet on Tuesday. Barney was a bit put out, having to sit on floor boards and Poppy decided the disruption was too much for a cat to tolerate and stayed in the conservatory. Now the carpet is down and the furniture is back in place, we are pretty well much back to normal. Other years, on fine March days, we would have been eating lunch in our conservatory. This year it has been used as a temporary storage area for some of our dining chairs etc. while Peter was decorating and we were waiting for the carpet to be fitted. Now it is clear, it needs a spring cleaning but that won’t stop us eating our lunch out there and enjoy looking out over our garden.

To round off today’s entry; I have included posters with information covering The Strand Club’s April meeting and June trip. The Club has been lucky to secure a speaker from the National Trust and both the talk and trip should be very interesting.

There was a bit of a hiccup at the Parish Council Meeting on Wednesday evening. The agenda did not include an item for the approval of the new parish clerk and therefore, this was held over to a special meeting, for Councillors only, on Friday evening. The Chairman, Mr. Bruce Stratton reported there were sixteen applicants for the position, with five selected, based on suitability, for interview. From the five, Mrs June White the current clerk for Mundesley, was selected. A job offer has been issued with a view to her starting on 1st May. The problem of water running down the Northrepps Road was raised again. At a previous meeting, our County Councillor, Mr Windham Northam, was asked to enquire about re-cutting the ‘grupps’ but as the council have heard nothing; the clerk will be contacting Mr Northam for an update. There will a beacon lighting on Pauls Lane car park at 8 p.m. on 21st April for HRH Queen Elizabeth II 90th Birthday. Volunteers were requested to man the Parish Council’s stall at the village Summer Fair and our District Councillor, Mrs Angie Fitch-Tillett told the meeting she had signed a £14,000 contract for the repair of the gabions above the promenade.

Blackthorn (Sloe)

It is quite some time since we have eaten at the Sea Marge. The reason being; last time, we were disappointed with the food and not particularly impressed with the service either. However, when I went in the other day, to enquire about holding a COAST event, I was impressed with the how friendly and helpful the staff were. On this basis we booked a table and had a very enjoyable evening of Thursday. We chose from the table d’hôte menu; this was excellent, with three courses for £21, all well cooked and presented. We will definitely be returning.

The weather has been up and down, cool and cloudy one day, sunny and warm, the next. Peter is waiting for the ground to warm before he plants any more vegetable seeds. Yesterday, I photographed the furry pussy willow buds which have broken into flower and blackthorn (sloe) blossom, plus we saw the first butterflies of the year; a peacock and a small tortoiseshell. They were out enjoying the sun along with other insects but as it started raining about seven this morning, I doubt if they will be about today.

Pussy Willow - open

Friday afternoon, we went to Mr. Terry Richard’s funeral at St. Martins church. His daughter-in-law, Mary, spoke about Terry; referring to him affectionately as Dad. One of the three adjectives she used to describe him was, tenacious. Tenacity was one of Terry’s many qualities that endeared him to me. I have to ‘take my hat off’ to Terry, who was prepared to stick by his beliefs and principles and not be cajoled or swayed away from these, despite possible ramifications. I don’t know if it is appropriate to say this but I will anyway, I thought his wicker coffin was beautiful and I very much liked the photographs of Terry, on the back of the service booklet. Anyone, like myself, who had only known Terry for a few of his eighty four years, could not fail to appreciate seeing him as a younger man.

Small Tortoiseshell

Wednesday 13th April 2016 - Gettin Impatient, Overstrand Together and Perfect April Morning.

Virtually halfway through April and I have been thinking we should be planting more vegetable seeds. That was until I looked at our planting lists, which provide a record of types and varieties of vegetables we have grown, along with planting dates for previous years. I was wrong and no need to worry that the cold damp March which has left the soil cold and wet has put us all behind – I just need to be patient. We have been adding to our fruit trees and bushes. A couple of weeks ago we purchased an apricot to train along our south facing wall and yesterday I planted a blueberry. These along with two apples, pear, peach, greengage, redcurrant, blackcurrant, gooseberry, rhubarb and raspberries must go a good way towards providing our five-a-day.

Breaking Pear Blossom

Opening Bluebells

Greengage Blossom

Yesterday evening I went with a friend to the Overstrand Together open meeting. There were quite a number of items on the agenda, mainly covering the events planned for this year. It was agreed to pay the Sports Club £550 out of accrued funds. This will enable the club to replace their marquee which was on loan to Overstrand Together for the Christmas Bazaar last November, when it was damaged beyond repair by gales. Arrangements for the Dog Show and Street Party in May are well under way. So far entries for both the Open Gardens and Yard Sale are slow but it is expected these will increase as we get nearer the cut-off date for bookings.

This morning has been perfect. Sun, no wind, a low tide, clear blue skies and a glassy blue sea; this made for a ‘not to be missed’ walk on the beach. On our return the fishing boats were coming back in with their haul of crabs. All this, coupled with the gentle putting from fishing boat’s engines, conjured up memories of our trips to Greece. Even the bees were out early, taking advantage of the warmth and hopefully, later on today, the butterflies will be out too.